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Bap. And I, to sound the depth of this knavery.

[Exit.

Luc. Look not pale, Bianca; thy father will not frown. [Exeunt Luc. and BIAN. Gre. My cake is dough; but I'll in among the rest; Out of hope of all,—but my share of the feast. [Exit.

PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA advance.

Kath. Husband, let's follow, to see the end of this ado.

Pet. First kiss me, Kate, and we will.

Kath. What, in the midst of the street?
Pet. What, art thou ashamed of me?

Kath. No, sir; God forbid :-but ashamed to kiss. Pet. Why, then let's home again.-Come, sirrah, let's away.

Kath. Nay, I will give thee a kiss; now pray thee, love, stay.

Pet. Is not this well?-Come, my sweet Kate; Better once than never, for never too late.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Room in Lucentio's House. A Banquet set out.

Enter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the Pedant, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO, and Widow. TRANIO, BIONDELLO, GRUMIO, and others, attending.

Luc. At last, though long, our jarring notes agree; And time it is, when raging war is done,'

To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown.-
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,
While I with self-same kindness welcome thine.-
Brother Petruchio,—sister Katharina,—
And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,—

1 The old copy reads come; the emendation is Rowe's.

Feast with the best, and welcome to my house;
My banquet' is to close our stomachs up,
After our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down;
For now we sit to chat, as well as eat.

[They sit at table.
Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
Pet. Padua affords nothing but what is kind.
Hor. For both our sakes, I would that word were

true.

Pet. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow. Wid. Then never trust me if I be afeard.

Pet. You are sensible, and yet you miss my sense. I mean, Hortensio is afeard of you.

Wid. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns

round.

Pet. Roundly replied.

Kath.

Mistress, how mean you that? Wid. Thus I conceive by him.

Pet. Conceives by me!-How likes Hortensio

that?

Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale. Pet. Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good

widow.

Kath. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round.

I pray you,

tell me what you meant by that. Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew, Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe;2

And now you know my meaning.

Kath. A very mean meaning.

Wid.

Right, I mean you.

Kath. And I am mean indeed, respecting you.

Pet. To her, Kate!

Hor. To her, widow!

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

1 The banquet here, as in other places of Shakspeare, was a refection similar to our modern dessert, consisting of cakes, sweetmeats, fruits, &c. 2 As this was meant for a rhyming couplet, it should be observed that shrew was pronounced shrow. See also the finale, where it rhymes to so.

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Pet. Spoke like an officer.-Ha' to thee, lad. [Drinks to HORTENSIO. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well. Bian. Head, and butt? A hasty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and horn. Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awakened you? Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter1 jest or two.

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow.— You are welcome all.

[Exeunt BIANCA, KATHARINA, and Widow. Pet. She hath prevented me. Here, seignior

Tranio,

This bird you aimed at, though you hit her not;
Therefore, a health to all that shot and missed.

Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipped me like his greyhound, Which runs himself, and catches for his master.

Pet. A good swift 2 simile, but something currish. Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself, 'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay. Bap. O ho, Petruchio, Tranio hits you now. Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio. Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here? Pet. 'A has a little galled me, I confess; And, as the jest did glance away from me, 'Tis ten to one it maimed you two outright. Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,

I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.

Pet. Well, I say-no; and therefore, for assurance Let's each one send unto his wife;

1 The old copy reads better. The emendation is Capell's.

2 Beside the original sense of speedy in motion, swift signified witty, quick-witted.

3 A gird is a cut, a sarcasm, a stroke of satire.

And he whose wife is most obedient
To come at first when he doth send for her,
Shall win the wager which we will propose.
Hor. Content.What is the wager?
Luc.

Pet. Twenty crowns!

Twenty crowns.

I'll venture so much on my hawk, or hound,
But twenty times so much upon my wife.
Luc. A hundred, then.

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That will 1. Go,

[Exit.

Luc.

Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.
Bion. I go.

Bap. Son, I will be your half, Bianca comes.
Luc. I'll have no halves: I'll bear it all myself.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

How now! what news?

Bion.

Sir, my mistress sends you word

That she is busy, and she cannot come.

Pet. How! she is busy, and she cannot come !

Is that an answer?

Gre.

Ay, and a kind one too.

Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse.
Pet. I hope, better.

Hor. Sirrah, Biondello, go, and entreat my wife
To come to me forthwith.

Pet.

[Exit BIONDEllo.

O ho! entreat her!

Nay, then she must needs come.

Hor.

I am afraid, sir,

Do what you can, yours will not be entreated.

Re-enter BIOndello.

Now where's my wife?

Bion. She says, you have some goodly jest in hand; She will not come; she bids you come to her.

Pet. Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile, Intolerable, not to be endured!

Sirrah, Grumio, go to your mistress;

Say, I command her come to me.
Hor. I know her answer.

Pet.

Hor.

[Exit GRUMIO.

What?

She will not.

Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.

Enter KATHARINA.

Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes Katharina!
Kath. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
Kath. They sit conferring by the parlor fire.
Pet. Go fetch them hither; if they deny to come,
Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands.
Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Exit KATHARINA.
Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.
Hor. And so it is; I wonder what it bodes.

Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life
An awful rule, and right supremacy;

And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy.
Bap. Now fair befall thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is changed, as she had never been.
Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet;
And show more sign of her obedience,
Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA and Widow.

See, where she comes; and brings your froward wives
As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.—

Katharina, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble; throw it under foot.

[KATHARINA pulls off her cap, and throws
it down.

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